Leaf-turner



(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 1.

T. D. HOLCOMB.

LEAF TURNER.

No. 445,405. Patented Jan. 27, 1891.

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' 3 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model.)

T. D. HOLOOMB.

LEAF TURNER.

No. 445,405. Patented Jan. 27, 1891.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3] T. D. HOLGOMB. LEAF TURNER.

No. 446,405. Patented Jan. 27, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS D. HOLCOMB, OF BROOKLYN, NEXV YORK,

LEAF-TURN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 445,405, dated January 27, 1891.

Applieationfiled September 27, 1890. Serial Not 366.328. (No modeld To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS D. HOLCOMB, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented an Improvement in Leaf-Turners, of w rich the following is a specification.

This invention is intended specially for turning the leaves of music, and the appliance can be used upon a piano or upon a music-stand.

Leaf-turners have heretofore been made in which there are arms extending from rings surrounding a fixed shaft, and said arms have been unlatched in succession to permit the springs to turn the arms from the right to the left and carry with them the leaf of the music-book, and in some instances leaf-turners have been brought into action by a treadleconnection.

In my present improvements the leaf-turning arms are constructed in such a way as to be received into latches in a stationary tube, within which tube is a plunger moved progressively and acting upon the arms in succession to liberate them and allow their springs to swing such arms and turn the leaves, and the plunger is moved progressively by a ratchet-wheel and pawl acted upon by a pedal.

In the drawings, Figure l is an elevation of the leaf-turning apparatus. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan in larger size at the line a: as, and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan in larger size at the line y y; and Fig. at is an edge view of the leaf-turning apparatus.

The music is to be held upon any suitable rack or holder. I have represented the rack A as adapted to a piano, and my turning device may be applied either above the music or below the music. Usually it is preferable to apply the same above the music, especially with upright pianos, in which case there is ample room for actuating devices,and the connection to the pedal can pass over the top of the piano,

In cases where the music-turner is above the music it is advantageous to raise and lower the bottom edge of the music according to the height of the sheet, in order that the upper edge of the sheet may be near to the flange 2, and with this object in view I provide a notched rack 3 upon the musica'ack, and a sliding holder B, having a latch 4 to sustain the holder at any point to which it may be raised upon the toothed rack 3, and there is a hinged spring-finger C, that can be drawn out for placing the music between such finger and the rack 3, and when pressed back this finger (J, coming at the center of the fold of the music, holds the same firmly against the music-rack A and at whatever height the holder 13 may be raised to. In line with the toothed rack 3 and center of the sheets of music is a shaft D, held at top and bottom by stationary supports 5 to the upwardly-ex tended portion of the music-rack A, and there are leaf-turners E adapted to swing around the shaft D, and as many of these leaf-turners are to he provided as desired, according to the number of leaves that the apparatus is adapted to.

Each leaf-turner is made as an arm pro jecting from a ring 0 surrounding the stationary shaft D, and these rings 6 are kept at of the sleeves 7 and one of the springs 8 being shown in section in Fig. 1, and each leafturner is made with a vertical member terminating, preferably, at the end as a forked spring-clip adapted to grasp the edge of the sheet to be turned, and the vertical members of the leaf-turners are at a progressively-increasing distanee from the shaft D, so that such leaf turncrs do not come into contact with each other, but stand side by side both before and after the leaf has been turned.

Adjacent to and parallel with the shaft D is a tube F, into which undercut notches are made, leaving downwardly-proj ectin g tongues leaf-turner and allow it to swing.

5), and these tongues are in such positions that the leaf-turners can be swung around and passed into the notches of the tnbeb'e hind the tongues. Hence such tongues form latches that hold the leaf-turners when they have been swung from the left to the right and connected successively with the upper edges of the leaves, and when such leaf-turners are disengaged in succession they swing the leaves from the right to the left in turning such leaves successively.

In order to swing each. leaf-turner a suitable spring is provided. I prefer to use small helical springs G, one endof the spring being connected to the ring 6 and the other end to the back board or rack A, and in such position that the spring will be stretched or distended as the leaf-turner is swung from the left to the right, and a contraction of such spring causes the leaf-turner to be swung from the right to the left when disengaged from the latch-tube F. It is usually preferable to groove the edges of the rings 6, so that the helical springs G will lie against the edges of such rings and withintheir grooved peripheries when the springs are distended.

In order to unlateh the leaf-turners E successively from the tongues of the latch-tube it is only necessary to provide a plunger I within the tube F and to press such plunger lengthwise of the tube, so that each leafturner in succession is moved from behind its tongue and thereby liberated, so that its spring will swing the leaf-turner and turn the leaf, and the plunger then is in position to be acted upon a second time to unlatch the next Any suitable means may be made use of for moving the plunger I endwise within the tube F. I prefer to cut the rack of teeth into such plunger and to use a gear K, with its teeth in contact with the rack of the plunger, and adjacent tothe gear K is a ratchet-wheel L, acted upon by a pawl N, and the teeth of this ratchet-wheel L are to be so cut that for each movement of the pawl N the plunger I will receive an endwise motion sufficient to unlatch one of the leaf-turners.

The pawl N is preferably made to slide longitudinally within the supports 10, and it is moved in one direction by a spring and in the other direction bya cord 0, and this cord is to be led to a treadle orpedal P, so that the latch may be actuated by the foot. This pedal may be held in position beneath the instrument by an extensive strut resting at one end on the floor and pressed at the other end against the to thebase of the latch or pawl N,and provided with pulleys l3 and 14 for the cord to pass over. IVith an upright piano this arm Q will be comparatively short and pass across the top of the piano, and with a square piano such arm should be sufficiently long to extend across the piano. In either instance the pulley 14: at the back end forms a guide for the cord that descends to the treadle. By actuating the treadle whenever the leaf is to be turned the pawl N will move the ratchet-wheel L and gear K and give end motion to the plunger I, so as to'unlatch one of the leafturners; and the spring of the leaf-turner will swingthe leaf-turner from the right to the left and carry the leaf with it.

A stop may be provided upon the plunger I to limit the endwise movement of the same. I have illustrated such a stop by the wire R passing to the edge of the plunger and passing through an eye 15, and having ahead 16, which coming in contact with the eye 15 prevents the plunger being drawn entirely out of the latch-tube F.

This leaf-turner being simple and compact can be constructed with a large number of turners, as high as twenty-five or thirty, without occupying too much space, and as it is especially designed to be above the music the turner does not approach the key-board or get in the way of the performer.-

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the stationary shaft D, the leaf-tnrners and their springs, of the notched latch-tube F and plunger I, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the shaft D, of the leaf -turners E, each leaf -turner being formed with a ring 6, the helical spring connected with such ring and with the musicrack, sleeves around the shaftD,between the respective rings, and helical springs surlOllllllClillg the sleeves, substantially as set fort a 3. The combination, with the leaf-turners and their supporting-shaft and springs, of a latch tube notched and having tongues against which the lea-f-turners are held, and a plunger within the latch-tube, andmechanism for giving to such plunger an endwise movement to unlatch the leaf-turners successively, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the stationary shaft, the leaf turners upon such shaft, and the springs for moving such leaf-turners, of latches for holding the leaf-turners, a sliding plunger acting to separate the leaf-turners from thelatches, and a ratchet-wheel and pawl for giving to the plunger an end motion, sub stantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with the leaf-turners and the latches for holding the same, of the plunger, a rack and gear-wheel for giving end IIO motion to the same, aratchet-wheel and pawl ing the music when placed in position, sub- 10 for moving the gear, a spring to give motion stantially as set forth. in one direction to the pawl, and a cord and Signed by me this 18th day of September, treadle moving the pawl in the other direc- 1890. tion, substantially as set forth. p I 7 x 6. The combination, with the music-rack FHOMAS HOLCOMB' and the leaf-turners above the music, of a Witnesses: toothed rack 3, a sliding music-holder upon GEO. T. PINCKNEY, the toothed rack, and a spring-fingerforhold- 1 VILLIAM G. MOTT. 

